Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input device that is used for an electronic device, for example, a mobile phone such as a smartphone, a mobile information device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a tablet terminal, a personal computer, and a touch panel.
Description of the Related Art
In a mobile phone and the like, an input device including one or more switch elements is employed (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication No. 4049703).
Japanese Patent Publication No. 4049703 discloses an input device including a contact electrode, an inversion member that contacts the contact electrode due to pressure from an operator, and a position detection means that detects a capacitance change when a finger of an operator or the like (object to be detected) approaches thereto.
In the above-described input device, a capacitance change and an electrical connection between the inversion member and the contact electrode need to be detected, and thus, both a circuit for detecting the capacitance change and a circuit for detecting the electrical connection should be mounted, or two integrated circuits having each detection function needs to be employed. This raises difficulties in reducing costs, ease of manufacture, downsizing a device and the like, since an internal configuration of the device becomes complex.
In addition, a cooking device including an input device is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2011-081910, an input device including a capacitance sensor 20 is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2008-052620, and an input device including a switch mechanism 2 is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2010-123367. Furthermore, an input device including a switch input means, an inversion member, and a contact electrode 9 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4049703, a capacitance-type switch including a fixed electrode and a movable electrode is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-222022, and a capacitance-type sensor including a substrate which has a fixed electrode and the like, an conductive rubber-plate, and a rubber plate is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-74404.